Discipline
by Sarah1281
Summary: Frigga thinks Odin is being too severe with Loki by depriving him of ever seeing her again and doesn't wish that for herself either. Odin explains that he won't really keep them apart for all eternity but he has to be strict or Loki won't take the situation seriously. Surely Loki will understand and be reasonable about this!


Discipline

"So my son is never to see me again?" Frigga asked the moment they were alone. "I suppose that means that I am not to see him as well. I would love to know what it is that I am being punished for."

"Frigga," Odin started to say, tiredly.

Frigga continued before he could do so, however. "And do not pretend that it would not be a punishment for me. It is quite one thing to be forced to watch as Loki is imprisoned or his mouth is shown shut but it is quite another to ban me from ever seeing my child again!"

"Why does everyone always bring that up?" Odin wondered, staring at the ceiling as if it would provide an answer to his question. "I never would have really allowed them to do it even if Thor hadn't gotten there in time."

"Well that's not what the boys believe and so it really doesn't matter," Frigga pointed out.

"Frigga, Loki really can't see you right now," Odin tried to explain. "He's already acting like we're just grounding him and seeing you show up with your constant love and support isn't going to change that. He needs to understand that this is a bit more serious than the things we have previously punished him for. Maybe it's my fault for allowing him to get away with as much as he has in the past."

"I'm not sure Loki would see it as him getting away with things," Frigga said.

"He may have been punished but I think we both know how our parents would have reacted if we engaged in half of the tricks that Loki has," Odin replied.

Frigga reluctantly nodded. "Isn't that the point of parenthood? Trying to be better than our own parents?"

"All I know is that Loki clearly believes that his behavior is acceptable and that 'lesser beings' deserve less consideration than do Asgardians. I honestly don't know where he got this genocidal bent from. Thor at his worst never would have done anything like this and I _banished _him," Odin said mournfully.

Frigga winced. "Perhaps we should stop comparing the two. I don't think that's done any of us any favors over the years and certainly hasn't helped Thor and Loki's relationship."

Odin began to pace. "Surely you aren't telling me that, with all of these crimes to whichever name he is choosing to use right now, it's parental favoritism that I need to watch out for?"

"Well it won't help matters," Frigga said delicately.

"I don't see how it's favoritism to point out that only one of my sons has actively tried to destroy another realm," Odin said.

Frigga raised an eyebrow. "And how do you think Loki will see it?"

Odin sighed. "I really wish you could deal with him."

"I would love to, dear husband, but someone has forbade me from ever seeing him again," Frigga said pointedly.

Odin waved his hand dismissively. "It's not like I meant it!"

Frigga stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop as well. "What do you mean by that? You didn't mean that I am never to see Loki again? But you said-"

"Well I had to say it, didn't I?" Odin asked rhetorically. "I already mentioned that Loki isn't taking this seriously. This is a bit more problematic than that time he started telling people that I was keeping his nonexistent son imprisoned in the dungeons because I was afraid it was going to kill me one day."

"If you aren't going to keep your word then he won't take it seriously when he finds out the truth," Frigga said.

"You won't be visiting him for the foreseeable future but once things have settled down of course I'm not going to keep you two apart forever. I'm not heartless, Frigga."

"I'm sure that will be some sort of comfort while he spends the rest of his days in the dungeon…" Frigga trailed off upon noticing the look on Odin's face. "That's not something you meant either?"

"He's got to take this seriously," Odin said again. "He's acting like a martyr right now and I am getting nowhere with him. He is playing it as though he were some sort of deposed ruler and not a man imprisoned for his multiple crimes against the realms."

"You know Loki. He is not liable to admit to fault even if he were fully aware that he were in the wrong," Frigga said, shaking her head.

"I'm well aware of that," Odin replied. "But at this point I don't believe that he does believe that he did anything wrong except failing in his deeds."

Frigga sighed. "I'll work on him. Or I _would_ if I weren't banned from seeing him right now."

"You can't be seen going down there, Frigga, much as it pains you," Odin said sternly. "We can't appear to be coddling him after what he's done. Now, we managed to keep his attempted destruction of Jotunheim and what transpired with Thor on the Bifrost and down on Earth quiet but the attack on Earth cannot be seen to be just brushed off so easily."

Frigga's eyes lit up and a small smile appeared on her face. "I can't be seen to go near him, is that it?"

"Well naturally I cannot possibly be expected to know everything you get up to and the guards are not to disturb me with what happens down there unless it is a security concern," Odin said blandly. "I am going to trust that you wouldn't project an illusion of yourself down there unless you thought it was important."

"I appreciate your faith in me," Frigga said. "Loki won't technically be seeing _me_, just my illusion and it will please him that I am not fully complying with the very clear edict of me not being allowed to see Loki ever again."

"Technically, I said that Loki was not allowed to see you," Odin pointed out. "And we knew how he felt about rules and laws even before this crazy and evil phase of his."

"I wonder what Loki would think if he knew we were calling it a phase," Frigga mused.

"Insist that we were taking this less seriously than he is, probably," Odin answered. "And refuse to ever stop being crazy and evil so that he can prove it really isn't a phase."

"Well, he did refuse to admit that he was stuck as a horse even though we all knew that he couldn't turn back," Frigga conceded. "I do believe that he still refuses to admit that he didn't just stay a horse for a year because he felt like being a horse at all times."

Odin smiled fondly at the memory. He wondered if they could ever get back to days like that. At the moment it seemed impossible but he had been alive for too long to think that anything was permanent. One way or another, this impasse with Loki would have to end. He just worried what would take its place.

"I suppose the fact I am allowed to see Loki but he may not see me means that I would be complying with your will if I had Loki blindfolded when I came down or made him promise not to look at me?" Frigga asked.

Odin thought about it. "I suppose technically. But it would be a little ridiculous."

"And so is telling our son that he will be imprisoned forever and never allowed to see me again and then not carrying through on that," Frigga said. "Not that I believe that you _should_ carry through with that, mind you, because I don't think the lack of hope will help him decide to redeem himself."

"Forever is…who even knows how long forever can be?" Odin asked rhetorically. "I have never seen an Aesir – or a Frost Giant, for that matter – die of old age. And Loki is young. Does anybody actually believe it makes any sort of sense to imprison somebody _forever_?"

"Loki seems to," Frigga told him.

"He can't possibly really believe that of me," Odin said incredulously. "I'm going to have to keep him locked up for maybe a century or so but then everything will have passed over and all will be forgiven. Assuming that during this time Loki learns to let go of his perceived slights."

"That is a pretty big assumption all things considering," Frigga said.

"Well, yes, we can't just leave him alone to brood and allow his sense of injustice to fester," Odin agreed. "But we have a good century to figure out how to reach him. I'm sure that will be plenty of time."

"Like how more than ten centuries was enough for you to figure out how to tell Loki that he was born on Jotunheim?" Frigga asked pointedly.

Odin shrugged. "Oh, this is much different. Loki's _already _reacted about as badly as you could expect so I really don't think we have anything to lose here."

"Do you really have to be so cruel to him, though?" Frigga asked. "I think he's really starting to resent you."

"If I'm kind then he will see right through me and then it will never work," Odin said. "I agree that there are some slight…holes in my plan but I don't see what else I can do to reach him. Loki is quite stubborn you know. I think he gets it from Thor."

Frigga managed a smile at that. "Loki always believes what he wants to believe and so given half the chance to think that we gave up on him because we always loved Thor more and he's a Frost Giant, he is going to take it," she cautioned.

"With any luck, after a century he'll just get bored with this whole 'evil' thing anyway," Odin said hopefully. "Especially if we can set it up that he thinks I have no faith in his ability to change and he wants to prove me wrong."

"That sounds like it could backfire tremendously," Frigga said. "He could just as easily decide to prove you right."

"That is true," Odin acknowledged. "This plan is a work in progress and I'm sure that over the next century I'll be able to make it more coherent. And all of those Midgardians he almost killed should be dead by then anyway so the timing is perfect."

"I would like to make it clear that I am very against this plan and think we should be more honest with our son and not risk him thinking we've given up on him so there's no point in him even trying should he decide he wants to come back after all."

Odin nodded. "Duly noted. If my plan blows up in my face you have my permission to say that you told me so though, under the circumstances, I doubt you will be in the mood."


End file.
